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Introduction to Alltech Navigate

This series is dedicated to Alltech® Navigate™ – the pioneering advice service designed to help farmers reduce feed waste and optimise input utilisation to drive profit margins.

Alltech® Navigate™ has been designed around dairy farmers with the aim of helping to increase margin by a minimum of 1.2 pence per litre.

By working with farmer customers, Alltechhas demonstrated the best way to improve margins is to increase efficiency.

Alltech® Navigate™ works alongside farmers to finetune the complete feed process; in the field, during storage, at feed-out, and inside the cow.

The service is unique in that Alltech advisers will identify incremental, and often low investment, actions which can be made on-farm to make financial savings. Furthermore, the importance of control to the farm businesses is centric to this service.

Alltech® Navigate™ provides the information and insights to help farmers to make their own well-informed strategic business decisions.

Feed is the single biggest variable cost on-farm and the most instrumental driver of wider input utilisation.

Over the past 12-months, Alltech has been conducting pilot studies on UK dairy farmsto establish for the first time ever, actual levels of loss across the entire feed process.

Pilot study 2 established the levels of waste and underutilisation on higher-efficiency farms.

Summary Results

Underutilisation of feed inputs due to sub-optimal FCE was at an average 0.05 below the target of 1.5, compared to the overall U.K. average of 1.2, was key. At 28 pence per litre this is 1.11 litres / 3.3 per cent uplift on average. It is multi-factorial due to the common findings as follows- Undigested fibre and grain in the manure reflective of sub-optimal rumen function- Wide-ranging level of sorting occurring in the ration down the feed barrier- Feed space shortage below minimum target of 65cm per cow- Lunge space against wall sides often limiting and mostly below desired 90cm- Water trough access most frequently below target 10cm per cow- Lighting and air quality generally good and most often ideal in new buildings, the dry group isoften under the same roof as the milking groups

Mastitis is the biggest driver of health cost, with lameness second

Services per conception and calving interval were generally outside of optimal target. Pregnancyrate is now being factored in and measured moving forward

Most of the farms would be defined as sitting in the top 25 per cent in the UK with an impressive discipline at being efficient. However, there were still great opportunities to drive efficiency, reduce in-storage wastage and put important margin on the bottom line.

Key information about using Alltech® NavigateTM

How can Alltech® Navigate™ make a difference on your farm?

The most significant cost in any livestock production system is feed and this varies enormously.

Feed costs on a dairy unit can be as little as 10.9 pence per litre or as much as 19.7ppl. Home-grown forage is the most cost-effective feedstuff on any dairy farm, but some of the most substantial losses are found with the making, storage and feeding of it.

By identifying where any wastage occurs and understanding how it can be avoided, Alltech® Navigate™ will demonstrate how major gains can be made.

A monetary figure will be calculated for each stage based on herd size, current milk price and a range of other relevant factors.

How does Alltech® Navigate™ work?

Completing the Alltech® Navigate™ journey will require approximately two hours spent on farm with an expert Alltech adviser. It needs minimal preparation, but a further half hour allows for engaging discussion to run through the report containing easily interpretable findings and to discuss actions in the short, medium and long-term.

How can I book an Alltech® Navigate™ consultation for my farm?

Getting your farm Navigated could not be easier. The service is FREE and is not restricted to Alltech customers.